9 posts categorized "Film"

May 11, 2011

I was sorry to hear that “Chicago Code” is about to be axed, as Luis Arroyave reports. It’s not because the show offered such a true-to-life depiction of Chicago police and politics (It didn’t). I enjoyed the program mainly because I am a fan of Jennifer Beals. I've been rooting for her ever since she was one of the students I met at a Goodman Theater high school workshop to which I lectured many moons ago. Even then she was a standout talent.She’s had a great career from “Flashdance” to “The L Word.” But in my view, she deserves better scripts than “Chicago Code” provides. Compared to the real cops and pols I’ve covered for a few decades, the dialogue and situations sound like they were dreamed up by a Los Angelean. Fuh-gedda-bow-dit.

March 08, 2011

When I heard that CBS finally fired Charlie Sheen, I reacted in the way Dorothy Parker responded to news that a mediocre president had died: "How can you tell?"

After parading his narcissism from one TV show to another for a week of escalating insults against his employers --and rambling babble about “winning” and drinking “Tiger blood” Sheen seemed to be all but begging to be canned.

Or perhaps caned, perhaps by the president his father played on West Wing. I would have bought a ticket to see that.

September 27, 2010

UPDATE: I had to take down my bikini photo of Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr.’s famous “social acquaintance” Giovana Huidobro because of copyright restrictions. But, through the wonders of the Web, it probably can still be found on her impressive page at this Peruvian photo site. Back in the black community's barber shops (Mine, anyway,) the chattering masses chuckle about whether JJJ’s gal pal is “black man’s kryptonite,” an old joke dramatized by Denise Richards in this scene from Eddie Griffin’s hilarious, politically incorrect and yet remarkably prophetic 2002 blaxploitation flick Undercover Brother.

January 06, 2010

Besides giving new meaning to the phrase “Blue Man Group,” Avatar is the billion-dollar blockbuster that conservatives love to hate, as Patrick Goldstein reports here and Jonah Goldberg articulates here.But, no Hollywood blockbuster worth its profit margins can get away with offending only one side of our great American cultural divide. It’s a long way from Sarah Palin to Perez Hilton.As righties bemoan the alien epic as yet another liberal Hollywood assault on Euro-American exceptionalism, liberals aren’t all that tickled with Avatar, either.

October 27, 2009

The world has turned upside down. Democrats are doing a reasonably convincing imitation of a unified party while conservative Republicans like Newt Gingrich are taking fire from the really, really truly conservatives.Exhibit A: Sarah Palin, Dick Armey, Bill Kristol and Sean Hannity, among other conservative purists, are piling on former House Speaker Newt Gingrich for his endorsement of Dede Scozzafava, who is running in the special election in New York’s 23d congressional district. Scozzafava is a Republican, but not conservative enough for many conservatives. In fact, on issues like gay rights, abortion rights, "card check," and other values-voter issues, she's not much of a conservaive at all. Hardcore, true-believin', Rather-be-right-than-victorious conservatives would rather see – Horrors! -- a Democrat slide through the middle of the split to give Speaker Nancy Pelosi another vote for her House majority.

October 02, 2009

President Obama's run into some problems selling his health care plans. What if he rapped his message in hip-hop verse? Hmmmm...

Would a "public option" smell as sweet? Would Sen. Max Baucus roll over and sigh?

Rap star T-Pain asks and answers that question with help from his new Auto-Tune app for iPhone on Thursday night's Jimmy Kimmel Show on ABC. (Move the slider to the 0:50-second mark to skip Kimmel's intro.)

Haven't heard of Auto-Tune? Well, you're in for a surprise in the above video clip after Kimmel's brief set-up.

September 24, 2009

LMAO. Jason Sudeikis nails Beck's raving mania and diabolical smile, although he has to go some to match the craze in Beck's crazy eyes.

(NOTE: To go directly to the Beck segment, slide the time bar forward to 1:34.)

(Viewer warning: Some of my conservative readers probably will hurl when they see that this clip comes courtesy of Media Matters for America, the liberal watchdogs who manage to find conservative bias every day in major media, especially at Fox News. Deal with it, folks.)

August 06, 2009

Seen this face before? Los Angeleans are not easily astonished, but quite a few woke up aghast to find local walls plastered with posters of the Joker that look oddly like-- Gasp!--Could it be? President Obama!

Or, more precisely, are they pictures of Obama that look oddly like Heath Ledger's version of the Joker from The Dark Knight?

No identification of the artist yet, but it is fair to guess that the message here is conservative -- bitterly conservative. The socialism label and Ledger-style makeup (The late Ledger's Joker was menacing and maniacal enough to make earlier Jokers look like, well, a joke) portray Obama as a as a stealth lefty, sinister enough, say, to have been created in a laboratory somewhere (Kenya maybe?) and given a phony birth certificate and an E-Z-Pass to the Oval Office by guilty liberals. Mwa-ha-ha-ha-ha-haaaaaa......!!!

Oops! Got a little carried away there.

Not surprisingly, the posters immediately sparked charges of racism, but let's lighten up a little, people. Here's a case in which I actually agree with conservative voices like this guy over at Fox News. He says the provocative cartoon is no big deal, considering how many times President George W. Bush was portrayed as the Joker--and worse!

May 10, 2009

If Washington is like high school, the Beltway saying goes, the White House Correspondents Dinner is the prom.

Well, trust me, Washington's circles of power are high school writ old and the WHCA spring dinner has become known far and wide as "the nerd prom." What else can you say for a gathering where the likes of Treasury Secy. Tim Geitner is one of the cool kids?

For what happened onstage, see Mark Silva's comprehensive report with video at The Swamp. This year's biggest chatter-provoking takeaway probably will be Wanda Syke's uproarious or, depending on your dittohead devotion, wince-inducing shot at a certain conservative radio talk show host:

"Rush Limbaugh said he hopes this administration fails," she said. "So, you're saying "I hope America fails," it's like, I don't care about people losing their homes, or their jobs, our soldiers in Iraq. He just wants the country to fail. To me, that's treason. He's not saying anything differently than what Osama bin Laden is saying. You know, you might want to look into this, Sir, because I think maybe Rush Limbaugh was the 20th hijacker, but he was just so strung out on oxycontin he missed his flight." Oh, snap.

About this blog

I’m an op-ed columnist who has too much to say about too much stuff to contain in my two columns-a-week. My views? I’m a proud factory-town liberal who nevertheless will surprise you from time to time – because liberals just l-o-o-o-v-e to criticize other liberals. Join the chat. I can’t tell you what to think, but I’ll offer you things to think about. About Clarence Page